Latest On Giancarlo Stanton: Talks Between Marlins, 4 Teams

The Red Sox, Cardinals, Giants and Phillies are early contenders to put together a trade for Marlins superstar Giancarlo Stanton, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports (on Twitter). There has been “preliminary communication” regarding the right fielder between each of those teams and the Marlins, according to Morosi, who adds that talks are likely to “intensify” at next week’s general managers meetings.

With the Marlins primed to slash payroll under new owners Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter, Stanton stands out as their most obvious trade candidate. The 2017 major league home run king (59) and National League MVP finalist is owed either $295MM through 2028 or $77MM through 2020, depending on whether he exercises his opt-out clause. The amount of money left on the contract, the opt-out and Stanton’s full no-trade rights could combine to make a trade rather complicated. But the 27-year-old Stanton’s no-trade clause may not be a major hindrance, given that he is fed up with losing and would like to join a contender. The Marlins appear poised to embark on a lengthy rebuild, so it seems doubtful Stanton would stand in the way of a deal if he feels the acquiring team would give him a chance to play meaningful games into the fall – something he hasn’t done since bursting on the big league scene in 2010.

While the Marlins have never even posted an above-.500 season during Stanton’s eight-year career, the Red Sox, Cardinals and Giants have typically served as contenders during that span (though San Francisco’s coming off a major league-worst 68-win season). The Phillies, meanwhile, have finished toward the bottom of the NL East for five years running, but several of their young players showed progress in 2017, and the club figures to return to its high-spending ways when it’s officially ready to leave its own long rebuild behind. Stanton reportedly wasn’t willing to waive his NTC to go to Philadelphia as of late in the season, though, and it could also hurt the team’s cause that it shares a division with the Marlins, who would have to face the p.r. backlash of dealing the face of their franchise to a close rival.

As with the Phillies, there are reasons why a Stanton acquisition would and wouldn’t work for each of the other three suitors (and several other teams), as MLBTR’s Jeff Todd deftly laid out on Thursday. Regardless of whether the Marlins ultimately send him to one of the four front-runners or another club, the Stanton sweepstakes will go down as one of the most fascinating sagas of the offseason.

Marlins will have to pick up more than $50 million if they expect a return like that.. Stanton’s best comps are Dave Winfield and Darryl Strawberry.. Both of them went into serious decline after they turned 30.. Granted Winfield had 2-3 decent years between 30 and 40 but they were not superstar years.. To say Stanton will be worth $28 million or so a year through age 38 is foolish.. His contract has maybe 3-4 years left before it becomes a drain on whatever team he is playing for.. That is if he is able to stay healthy, which he has been able to do for 3 out of his 7 seasons so far..

I don’t think you are far off from what they should expect in return.. I am just saying that to get that return they are going to have to pick up enough to get the AAV closer to $20 million to get another team to bite.. The Marlins are going to have to make up the difference in what they got the first couple of years of the contract when they heavily back loaded it plus a bit more to pay for the prospects.. Why pay an oft injured player market value and give up their best prospect when they can sign Martinez or wait for next years free agent class?

Starting in 2021, over the next 7 years Stanton will make $208 MM. Subtract $50 million and that is an AAV of $22.5 million. Even in decline he is worth that. That is a 2.7 fWAR per season in today’s dollars. At the current rate of FA salary inflation that will be just 2.3 fWAR by 2021. By 2027 it will be under 2.0 fWAR.

If Stanton comes anywhere close to reproducing 2017, he will opt out after 2020. This will be a huge benefit to the team who trades for him because they will have received incredible production for $77 million over 3 seasons, but not be liable for any of his declining years from 31-38..

After his age 30 season JD Martinez, who put up a 3.8 fWAR in 2017, is asking for $200 million and he is a defensive liability. Stanton will make $208 million after his age 30 season in 2020. In the meantime, the team trading for Stanton gets a 6 fWAR player for just $25-26 million per season.

Juan Gonzalez 4.4 WAR at age 31, followed by 0.4, 1.5, 0.5, and out.
Jose Canseco 3.0 WAR at age 31 with a total of 6.3 WAR ages 32-36
Darryl Strawberry skip due to drugs
Prince Fielder 1.9 WAR at age 31, followed by injury
Adam Dunn -2.9 WAR age 31, 1.4 WAR at 32, 0.2 WAR ages 33-35
Rocky Colavito 3.2, 2.0, 0.3, and 0.2 WAR ages 31-34

Manny Ramirez 27.7 WAR ages 31-37, So you have to go down to the 6th player on the list to find one who was effective during the 31-37 ages.

BTW, there’s a misconception that 1.0 WAR is worth $8 million. It isn’t. That’s just the speculation of what it costs on the free agent market to buy 1.0 WAR. The actual value in baseball is probably half that.

It is very generous of you to call stanton a 6 war player when he has done that twice in nine seasons. Part of being a 6 war player is staying on the field, something stanton has absolutely proven he has a difficult time achieving.

He has a hard time staying on the field? You would too if you got beaned in the face and broke a hamate bone. Those are not repeat, problem injuries. Those are freak injuries. Unless Stanton is the unluckiest man in MLB those will not be an issue going forward. If you remember the hamate bone season, he had 27 homers halfway through the year, so 2017 was no outlier. He’s actually this good. You can speculate on decline and which player he will decline most like, but he IS an MVP level player for the next few years at least.

As far as the dollars/WAR, that is usually used in free agency, but Stanton is a big contract being added from outside the organization, so it’s still applicable. Teams have to gauge what level of production he’ll bring and how much that production would cost elsewhere. As outinleftfield mentioned, those figures will shrink over time too. USD inflation of about 2.5% and $/WAR inflation of somewhere between 4-5% make that contract actually fairly manageable towards the end. This is especially true when you consider Stanton is only making in the mid-20s next year when he could command much more than that if on the open market, and will likely be worth more than that next year and beyond.

Cardinals already offered a top pitching prospect…if that happens they should be excited…cardinals hands down have the most to offer the marlins…only way they don’t get him is if Stanton wants to go to Boston

The Cards need a big power bat. Mo doesn’t like to spend big funds even though they’re chocked with dough. They seem more interested in spending/profiting from developing Ballpark Village.
I don’t foresee Stanton wearing the birds on the bat. We’ll end up seeing a one year rental.

Cardinals offered Heyward and price a lot of money…Heyward was offered more money than what the cubs offered…Boston said they would beat anyone by 30 million with Price and they did that to the Cardinals…Cardinals are willing to spend…this is a contract they can handle plus add a bullpen piece….cardinals also are usually in the top ten of biggest spending clubs….I don’t get this cardinals won’t spend the funds thing

Wishful thinking on our part with Stanton. Mozeliak’s history in dealing for All-Star caliber players is 0% over the last 4-5 years. He is capable of getting the fish on the hook, but has no clue how to land him. He’ll get out maneuvered at the end unles Girsch can bail him out. Mozeliak has no personality at all. That doesn’t help in negotiating. Cardinals will get an “Oh well….we tried to get something going, it just never developed!!!” Again, Again, Again!! Then he’ll dumpster dive as is his specialty!

Hey NL_East_Rivalry: A workaround for the iOS 11 glitch that autocorrects “I️” to that “A question mark wingding” is to create a new text replacement. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Then click on the plus sign in the top right corner. For Phrase, type “I,” and for Shortcut, type “i.” Then save.

Nobody say anything about teams not having the prospects to get Stanton. If they take 295 million there will be no return. Although Phillies perspective you get rid of Odubel to Miami and Miami is happy with serviceable and controllable outfielder. Phillies get what they want.

Offer a restructured contract and “proposed” budget as well as the type of players you are targeting. Not names, types…essentially how many table setters, power bats and philosophy of SP types. Offer to increase his salary to $30M through 2022 ($15m total over 5 years) if he agrees to push his opt out back to the end of 2022.

Any team looking to trade for him is rolling the dice that they will be paying the full contract…it’s a chance each is taking. If he is still performing at a high level and Harper, Manny and eventually Trout get paid what is being projected he will opt out. If not, well your already rolled those dice.

Am I saying they should do that? Not really…I’m torn, but that is one way to convince him.

I agree they do…but they are now part of the game..do you really believe Stanton will go somewhere and say “Sure…Oh Boy…I can’t wait to ditch my opt-out”? Not gonna happen and for upper echelon players opt-outs are here to stay whether you or I like it or not. BTW…considering I don’t own a team and am not a GM, how am I part of the problem?
Do you believe $15m over the course of 5 years is a huge amount? Will that make or break any of the contending teams? A restructure is one way, not the only but one way, to let him know they are serious.

@JKB…I am not saying it is just for a team like the Phillies but any team he may not be convinced of. Please, please enlighten me how it is garbage. You are paying him a bit more money upfront….placing him near the very top salaries in the game when he, hopefully is in his prime. You are guaranteeing him more money NOW in exchange 2 more years of his service. What part is garbage. I’ll wait while you explain.

If the Marlins are going to have to eat $95 million of the contract, they simply won’t trade him.
If they keep him, he’ll cost them $77 Million, then he’ll opt-out. Why would they pay more than $77 Mil….or even close to that?

Doesn’t make any sense.
Sure, they’ll get prospects if they do that, but they’ll have to decide if 3 years of The Beast is more valuable than a few lottery tickets.

All the chatter is kinda fun to see, but nobody really knows what will actually happen.

I believe that a Deal will be made before Nov 20th…….The Rule 5 Draft deadline for protecting players. After all…….The Marlins may have to protect the ones they get back!

Teams look to the trade market first, because those players are cheaper than top-class free agents.

With Stanton, he’s more expensive than all of them. A team like the Giants (for example) could reasonably sign J.D. Martinez and Mike Moustakas for less overall money than Stanton, filling two spots instead of one.

It could be a while before Stanton gets moved, again, simply because teams will check in on cheaper assets first.

If you are correct on the timing, the Cardinals will drop out of the bidding, and look elsewhere. They have a serious situation regarding their 40-man roster, and they HAVE to make some major moves before Nov 20th, or potentially lose several very good players to the Rule 5 draft.

The longer the process takes, the more I’d bet that Stanton STAYS in Miami for another year (or half a year). If the Marlins move Ziegler, Gordon & Prado, they can afford Stanton for 2 years.

Odubel has no appealing aspect of his game. I don’t want to see inconsistency in the batters box and mental lapses in center field for the next 4 years. He has had 3 MLB years. I don’t think his mental problems have improved one bit. I think he is also a negative influence in the clubhouse, Phillies can overhaul that clubhouse so easily with trading Odubel and releasing Franco.

Theres nothing to suggest that mental lapses have a negative effect on clubhouses. Jimmy Rollins was the same way, and he was revered. Hes an .780 OPS bat who is a good defensive CFer regardless of the occasion lapse, plus he makes pennies for the next 6 seasons. Trading him would just open another hole in the line up (Altherr and Williams are not capable CFers). When you consider contractual value and WAR averages over the last 3 seasons, moving Herrera for Stanton wouldn’t improve the Phillies all that drastically.

I could not agree more!! Anyone who would take the full contract DOES NOT NEED TO GIVE PROSPECTS…or certainly not high value ones. I think if the BoSox gave 4 years of Eduardo Rodriguez…it would be an over-pay…but…if the Marlins also took Castillo and his 3 years 35 million…the deal would be done…Fish get 2 good players and 260 million dollars of relief…BoSox dump 1 bad contract…and hope to get 3 great years of Stanton before he opts out…

By Castillo, do you really mean Rusney?
You’re really kidding aren’t you….Rodriguez and Rusty wouldn’t be enough to get Stanton even if the Marlins were that desperate to dump him.
Why do you Sox fans think Rodriguez is the second coming of Cy Young…..he just isn’t anything but a 3-4 at best regardless of controllable years.
And Rusney…….PLEASE!

It’s no guarantee he’ll opt out—people said the same thing about Price. But now he’s got a bad arm which everyone knows about. No way Price opts out now. Injuries can happen to anyone. There’s no guarantee Stanton would opt out.

If the Sox swing a trade, I would expect it to include both JBJ and E-Rod with a prospect (maybe Brian Johnson for a LHP or Chavis for a 3B dependng on what Miami wants to take more) and Miami eating a portion of the contract…thats not over paying for a player who just hit 59HRs plays, plays solid defense, hits about .270 consistently and gets put into a lineup with Benny, Betts, Devers, Hanley, adding protection to whoever hits infront of him…Marlins get a great defensive C.F. with an ok bat and team control for several years, and a solid MLB ready number 3-4 starter plus a prospect…seems right up Dave Dombrowski’s alley…IF the Sox look to make a trade

You’re crazy if you think the Marlins hang up the phone, that’s a better return then they’ll get from any other team, 2 MLB proven players and a high upside prospect is exactly what they want out of a deal with team control and inexpensive, or take the 3 years and 77 mil they’re gonna pay anyway to keep him and let him leave and get nothing. You’re over estimating his ability to what they’re going to pay and what they’ll get back.

They’re about to trade either Yelich or Ozuna as part of the regrowth that will gain them a huge hall in prospects, the Stanton trade is purely a payroll drop with MLB ready talent, so yes, they would trade for Bradely, especially since CF isn’t the only position he knows how to play…but if the Marlins decide to keep both Yelich and Ozuna then yeah, he’ll switch to a corner outfield spot, he’s played RF before.

They won’t trade for Bradley. Bradley has only 3 years of team control left. A rebuilding team would be trading players with that little control. Their current CF has 5 years of team control and they may trade him. Bradley is projected to make $5.9 million next year. That’s a salary the Marlins are trying to get rid of, not add.

Yes, Bradley can play RF, but why would you want him to? He’s an excellent defensive CF and the median CF isn’t as good offensively as the median RF. So Bradley would go from adequate offensively to below average. Even if his defense were as good you’d be diminishing his value.

There seems to be a belief that the Marlins will take whoever the Red Sox decide to trade them, but that seems unlikely. The Marlins want cheap controllable pitching. Any deal would start with Jay Groome and go from there.

The thing about Fenway is while it has that high Green Monster has been an impediment for some it’s been a boon for doubles. Fenway has the shortest left field in baseball. Id think that the trade off of less home runs would include more line drive outs becoming doubles.

In my opinion it’s likely just two teams. The Red Sox and the Cardinals. I just don’t see the other two as viable options. Stanton grew up a Dodger fan so I feel it’s unlikely he’d wave to go to San Fran. Nor do they have the prospects if it became an, unlikely, bidding war. The Phillies could both afford him and provide the prospects I just don’t think Stanton would wave it. The Red Sox could afford and could also provide talent. It just depends on their willingness to pay the luxury tax. The Cardinals have the money and the most talent of the four teams, but they typically are more conservative in spending. So I give the Cards a slight edge, Boston second, Phillies a distant third and Giants an even more distant fourth.

I seriously doubt that just because he grew up a Dodger fan that he would balk at a trade to SF. Maybe the fact that they were awful could sway things, but professionals don’t let silly fanboy things affect decisions like this.

That’s a good assessment…I think Stanton would actually prefer Boston though…although Boston will be labeled the new Yankees…only hope is Stanton agrees to go to St. Louis because it’s the best return for the Marlins…San Fran doesn’t have the talent to get it done…Stanton would be going back on his word that he wants to win if he goes to San Fran…hopefully the cards can get Yelich if they take on Prados contract

Stanton plays right field, and if memory serves my right the Sox play Mookie there and he just won a Gold Glove.
And the wunderkind Benintendi plays left, so unless one of those two is going in a trade, where exactly would Stanton play?

If outfield skills won’t be there forever, why not take advantage of them now? Mookie is younger than Stanton, and a way better fielder (not trying to say Stanton isn’t bad at fielding, because he is good at it). Plus, even if they do trade for Stanton, Betts is likely the last guy they’re gonna move out of the outfield. He’s probably one of the best defensive outfielders, if not the best defensive outfielder in the game right now.

I agree, they have approximately 100 mil coming off the books over the next 2 seasons. The one issue holding them back is the backloaded contract well into his late 30’s and Friedman does not to pay players late in their 30’s plus the Dodgers don’t utilized the DH.

I actually think the Giants will offer 4-5 prospects including Arroyo, Shaw, Beede and maybe a middling prospect or 2 plus more importantly, pay all of his salary and this time I’ll be happy the Cards come in 2nd cause quite frankly, I think he’d opt out if traded to STL only to sign somewhere on the Wesr Coast.

There is not a chance on gods green earth that the Giants give up their top 3 prospects and take on the entire salary to get Stanton! I can see them trading Panik and a couple pitching prospects to the Marlins since they may be considering trading Panik but that doesn’t include taking on his entire contract.

Stanton can say no to any deal. Stanton has all the leverage in this situation. Either they agree to trade Stanton where he wants or they have 295mill on the books if something happens and he opts in for the rest of his deal.

1. The Marlins can decide if a deal is insufficient for them to agree
2. Stanton declines if it’s Not somewhere He Wants To Play.

Only Stanton gets to “Agree To A Deal”…….

1. Marlins can bring 20 Different Deals (that are acceptable to them) to Stanton, all from teams that he won’t want to go to (no idea who they are exactly….just an example here)…….But they can’t MAKE Stanton Agree
2. Stanton will agree to ANY Deal that sends him where He Wants To Go (regardless of the return, or how much money is paid by his new Team….that doesn’t affect him)

The problem is no one is going to give the Marlins everything they want…they’ll have to choose between a better return or more financial relief. They’re not going to have 20 offers to go through…they’ll be lucky if they get 3 real offers.

Stanton is not going to reject a trade. He might posture in an attempt to get more money, but he’s not going to turn down a trade that takes him out of Miami. The Marlins are going to be terrible for a long time, and he knows that. Any team that trades for him will have the financial ability to put a better team around him than the Marlins do. He’s not going to stay in Florida just because he doesn’t “want” to play for the Cardinals or on the east coast, of whatever other reasons have been suggested in the media.

I’d bet money that he’d reject a trade to at least 1/2 of the Teams in baseball….for one reason or another…..if they made an offer (obviously many won’t even MAKE an offer).

I’ll probably offend some people here, because they see the “brighter side of their Team”………but I doubt he would accept a trade to Detroit, Toronto, Tampa, Seattle, Oakland, NY Mets, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, San Diego, or San Francisco…….and Milwaukee, Texas, Kansas City, and Chicago WS are probably not his 1st choices.

Do I know that for sure? Of course not. Does that list sound plausible, based on his statements regarding geography and competitiveness? Yes it does.

It remains to be seen if He/They make us all look foolish by going somewhere that makes us all “shake-our-heads”…..LOL

And where do you play Stanton….he plays right remember and I think that’s where Mookie Betts plays.
And left isn’t an option either with Benintendi.
Would you really think that it makes sense to move Betts to center, where he probably isn’t a gold glove player to get Stanton?
That’s like playing Hanley at first to get his bat in the lineup and just looking past the defensive liability he brings with that kind of move.

Friedman hasn’t taken on a contract for an outside player for over $48 million since he got to LA and hasn’t given out one over $80 million. He balked at giving a 6th year to Grienke. He isn’t taking on a 10 year deal or one for that kind of money. He might pay Kershaw through the nose but that’s it.

The Marlins have no interest in Puig. They want cheap, controllable, pitching and Puig is expensive, has little control, and plays outfield. While Urias is intriguing he probably isn’t going to pitch in 2018. Teams don’t usually trade for someone like that.

Puig is a no. The Dodgers 1) want to keep him because he’s a good baseball player and 2) wouldn’t trade one OF to fill the other hole in their OF. They’d still need to go get one after this. They wouldn’t trade Puig AND Urias anyways. Urias missed all of last year but he’s still an incredible talent and would carry much of the prospect/young player weight in this deal by himself. Anyone thinking the Marlins are going to get blown away by prospects is mistaken. The biggest asset they’ll get in return is getting money off the books.

Isnt this more of a salary dump than anything? i get that stanton is an all-star guy who finally has shown he can play more than 135 games but for any team to give up top tier talent (example- nats for eaton) is ridiculous. Machado and Harper hit the market next season, they’re younger and wont cost you the farm.

I would like to see him stay here, but thats out of the picture with Jeter. If he goes to Boston he’s probably going to hit 60+ bombs on that park. Maybe Boston eats Prado’s contract too and we get at least Devers, Bogaerts, Benintendi, Kimbrel or Bradley Jr, two of them and some other minor leaguers.

I think it is the worst move as a new owner to trade stanton. It is just like loria trading Miguel Cabrera.

If jeter didn’t have the money to run the team properly he shouldn’t have been award the team. Mas should have been the new owner.

The marlins are my second team after the white sox. Unfortunately I see jeter’ run as owner going a lot like Jordan in charlotte. A great player who is going to struggle owning a team.

I hope I’m wrong but everything he has done/ what has been said will happen does not give me much confidence. It is going to be brutal watching Stanton in another jersey next season because of financial reasons.

so you want the sox to eat not only his whole contract but prado’s too……AND give you 2 of those players plus minor league players you are crazy. For just stanton you will most likely get just JBJ out of that list and some minor league players. Also how does it help the sox to trade Devers our 3rd baseman or Kimbrel our closer for a outfielder? Please think before you post.

If the team that gets him is willing to eat most or all of the contract they most likely won’t get much if anything in return Miami wants out from under the 295 million that they owe him. 1 decent prospect and take the majority of his contract and it would be a done deal

Here’s the advantage the Phillies have that no one is mentioning- they can take the whole contract, plus another, while also offering a decent return.

And from Stanton’s side, if he’s even considering opting out of his deal, Citizens Bank would be as good a place he could go to pad his stats.

I still think the Phillies are more interested in Yelich than Stanton though. All of our left and switch hitting hitters are top and bottom of the lineup hitters. All our power is from the right side already.

All the writers on this site have totally blown off the Giants… What do you guys say now? You guys need to listen to locals sometimes. Some guy writes on this site saying he is local Bay Area but said no way on the Giants. You don’t understand how they need to fill that stadium and how the season ticket holders like to make money reselling tickets. The fans here will check out if the giants don’t make dramatic changes. The owners can afford some luxury tax. They cannot afford empty seats in this ballpark.

But the only question that actually matters is…………..Does Stanton WANT to go to San Fran…???
He’s in control…..The ability of the Giants to absorb his contract…and the return to the Marlins…….has little to do with the final decision.

There is a major issue if the Arlin’s consider throwing in money- the contract is 2 parts. The receiving team will consider the worse case scenario the full $295mm while the marlins will be playing off the $77mm. Mo money equals more and better prospects usually but this contract is so big.
The Phillies have plenty of chips to use. Both players and they have the cash. Just need to be make good production decisions. The money becomes irrelevant.
Because the player and money I am not sure competition will effect the market on this one.
I do give the Marlins a lot of credit for the structure of their contracts. But terrible business management – backloading contracts.
That ownership group was terrible for Miami ad baseball.

I think Stanton will end up in one of four places: Los Angeles, Boston, Yankees, or Toronto. Best fits are Boston and Toronto. Any of the four can afford his entire salary and have the prospects to trade. I think the Marlins will only trade him to a team who will take on his entire salary. The DH in the AL will give him a position to transition to as he gets older and the smaller ball parks will up his stats and HOF credentials. I don’t think he goes to any NL team except the Dodgers.

Could you imagine the damage he could create if he were to be traded to the Brewers?!? Stanton in Miller Park? Wow! To bad it will never happen, the record books would be in jeopardy. Hopefully he doesn’t end up in St. Louis for us Brewers fans. Lol

My hope is he goes to the Phillies. Only cause I don’t want to see the rich get richer. If it’s the Cardinals the cubs may as well just phone it in next year and wait to throw all their money at Harper. If it’s La, forget about that too they were one win away from being champions he will put them over the top.

Stanton has control of where he goes or stays. If he decides to leave Miami, he has two decisions to make. One, do I leave the NL? Two, do I prefer the east coast or the west coast? If he decides to stay on the Atlantic Ocean side, and to change leagues….he goes to Boston. If he choses to go west, to the Pacific Ocean, he goes to Los Angeles. End of discussion. All other teams are pretenders.

Yeah, I think you’re wrong on that one. Boston makes zero sense to land him. They’d be better off getting Martinez. They have Betts and Benintendi in the corner spots as is. L.A. I could see just because it’s L.A. and they just missed a World Series win by a game. St. Louis also makes too much sense.

However, I think some of the dark horses are going to be fun to watch in this race. I could see a team like Seattle getting him and trading Cruz. Astros will also be in play since they have the prospects and payroll flexibility. And, I liked the writer that suggested the Rockies. Another team with payroll and they just lost out in the Wild Card game.

And to say it’s his choice is ridiculous. He will choose any of those cities if they deal for him. Yeah, he has the cards in the NTC and all that, but he also knows the rest of the team is coming down when they trade the likes of Ozuna, Yelich, and Gordon. He won’t choose to just play out his next few years before his opt-out on a seller, and he knows the teams that can afford him are a select few.

Stanton is actually a good value player according to Spotrac he is 3rd in big money contract ranked 29th in value behind only Trout, Votto, and Harper. You can make the case that in 5 years his contract will even look better. That being said, once Stanton moves to a contending team he will be expected to be Santa Claus. I think when he sees what happened to Price in Boston he will steer clear of them. The Giants and Cards have been good for their stars so I see him going to one of them.

Stanton’s value is not good based on his contract. There’s a reason he cleared waivers this year and no one took on his contract. Add to that the fact that the Marlins also aren’t just looking for a salary dump and want 2 good prospects in return, and it makes it worse. Stanton also has a back-loaded contract, which makes it worse for anyone taking it on.

Also, you know the Giants had the worst record in baseball this year, right? I think that was a fluke and it’ll turn around, but that was after they made their big signings of Cueto, Shark, and Melancon.

I️ feel like Stanton has to go to either the cardinals or the Red Sox. Boston can eat the contract and St. Louis could probably offer the best prospect package. I️ could be wrong but of the 4 teams those 2 probably have the highest chance of contending next year

Red Sox fans have talked about Stanton since before he signed the $300 + M contract.
DD would have traded for Prado, IMO, had he not been on the DL last season. Stanton I think will wind up with the Dodgers.

How about stepping back and keeping the team that is coming off Ninety + wins somewhat in tact—–What about adding someone like Joey Votto (plus some cash in Trade) and Zach Cozart as a FA signing? I realize Votto is 33 and has the bulk of his money due. If he wants a WS Ring he may have a better chance in Boston than Cincy. Would he agree is the question?

My guess is the Phillies supposed interest is all window dressing. Con job to make it seem like they want to be big players in the market. The Phillies organization has shown ZERO interest in competing the past 6 years. Their main goal seems to be making money. Owners made $80 M last season more profit than any MLB team has made since 1993.

They’ll be atop the Most proditable list again when Forbes releases its data in the Spring.